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Winning the battle (1)
With God’s help, King Jehoshaphat overcame not just one army, but three. And his victory teaches us how we can win life’s battles too. Firstly we need to identify the enemy. It can be quite challenging to work out what or who the real enemy we’re facing is. Sometimes it’s other people coming against us, sometimes it’s spiritual attack, but many times the real enemy is actually our own attitude. It’s not so much what’s happening that gets us down, it’s our response to the situation. When Jehoshaphat heard ‘a vast army’ was coming against him, he was ‘alarmed’ (vv.2-3 NIV). It’s a fairly typical human response. We see a big problem, panic, and become fearful about what’s going to happen to us. Fear isn’t always a bad things, unless we deal with it in the wrong way. We can use it to motivate us to conquer the problem and drive us closer to God. It’s when we get discouraged, give up, get angry, and start asking, ‘Why me, God?’ that fear defeats us. If we’re facing a situation that’s filling us with fear and anxiety, we need to remember that God responds to faith. Let’s have faith in His unshakeable Word and stand on His promise: ‘So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand’ (Isaiah 41:10 NIV). He will never leave us to face our battles alone. He can help us identify our enemies, when our vision has become clouded by fear and uncertainty. And when we have unshakeable trust in God’s Word, we have the strength to deal with the battle we’re facing.
What Now?
Do you feel like you’re facing a battle right now? Write down all the details, and try to identify the real enemy you’re facing. Keep the paper to use over the next few days.
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